Utilization of a coke oven featuring improved heating properties

ABSTRACT

A coke oven of a horizontal construction of the non-recovery or heat recovery type is shown. The oven has at least one coking chamber, in which laterally vertical downcomers as well as horizontal bottom flues extend underneath the coking chamber for indirect reheating of the coking chamber. At least a part of the interior walls of the coking chamber is configured as a secondary heating source by coating it with a high-emission coating (HEB) that shows an emission degree equal to or higher than 0.9, and consists of the substances Cr 2 O 3  or Fe 2 O 3  or a mixture containing these substances, with the portion of Fe 2 O 3  amounting to at least 25% by weight in the mixture, and with the portion of Cr 2 O 3  amounting to at least 20% by weight in the mixture.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. Ser. No.12/311,145, filed Nov. 18, 2009. U.S. Ser. No. 12/311,145 is the USnational phase application of PCT application PCT/EP2007/007030, filedAug. 9, 2007. US Ser. No. 12/311,145 was pending as of the filing dateof this application. US Ser. No. 12/311,145 and PCT/EP2007/007030 areincorporated by reference as if set forth in their entirety herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a coke oven of horizontal construction(non-recovery/heat recovery type), in which at least part of theinterior walls of a coking chamber is configured as secondary heatingsurfaces by coating them with a high-emission coating (HEB), with theemission degree of this high-emission coating being equal to or greaterthan 0.9. This HEB preferably consists of the substances Cr₂O₃ or Fe₂O₃or of a mixture containing any one of these substances, with the portionof Fe₂O₃ amounting to at least 25% by wt. in a mixture and with theportion of Cr₂O₃ amounting to at least 20% by wt. in a mixture.

Coke ovens of horizontal construction are known from prior art intechnology and they are in frequent use. Examples of such coke ovens aredescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,111,757, U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,820, U.S. Pat.No. 6,596,128 B2 or DE 691 06 312 T2. A survey of coke ovens and commondesign types is given by W. E. Buss et al. in Iron and Steel Engineer.33-38. January, 1999.

They are distinguished in that the supply of the required energy ispartly taken directly from the combustion of light-volatile coalconstituents in the oven free space above the coal cake or from the coalcharge. Another part of the coking energy is carried in through wallsheated by flue gases on their rear side and through the chamber floorinto the coal cake or coal charge.

On account of a direct energy impact, the growth in thickness of theupper layer of the carbonised coke is the fastest. Carbonised layerswhich grow in parallel to the walls or from the bottom and in parallelto the chamber floor, therefore, at the end of the coking time, are lessin thickness than the upper layer.

Known from prior art in technology are different approaches designed tospeed up the coking time of coal. An increase in temperature in thecoking chamber which would cause an acceleration of the coking processleads to a higher loss of coal chemicals and as a rule it is impossiblefor reasons related to material. Therefore, preference was given to tryto improve the indirect heat transport through the walls and chamberfloor, for example in the way described in DE 10 2006 026521.

For the constructively different horizontal chamber ovens, the Europeanpatent EP 0 742 276 B1 describes a method to improve heat transfer fromparallel heating flues outside the actual oven space into the coalcharge. According to this method, the surfaces of heating fluesextending in parallel to the coke oven chamber are coated so that theyact as a black body, thus improving heat transport through the wall.

Still there is a demand, however, to reduce the coking time and therebyto improve the economic efficiency of this method.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This task is solved by the coke oven of horizontal construction(non-recovery/heat recovery type) as defined herein. This coke ovenconsists of at least one coking chamber, laterally arranged verticaldowncomers as well as bottom flues arranged horizontally and extendingunderneath the coking chamber for indirect reheating of the cokingchamber, with at least part of the interior walls of the coking chamberbeing configured as secondary heating surfaces by coating them with ahigh-emission coating (HEB), and with the emission degree of thishigh-emission coating being equal to or greater than 0.9.

This HEB preferably consists of the substances Cr₂O₃ or Fe₂O₃ or of amixture containing any one of these substances, with the portion ofFe₂O₃ amounting to at least 25% by wt. in a mixture and with the portionof Cr₂O₃ amounting to at least 20% by wt. in a mixture. Alternatively,the HEB can also contain SiC with a portion of at least 20% by wt. Asurvey of the state of the art technology in coatings of oven walls foran improved reflection of heat is given by M. Schulte et al. in “Stahland Eisen”, 110(3), 99-104, 1990.

In an improved variant of this coke oven, the HEB furthermore containsone or more inorganic binding agents. It has also been found that theconstituents of the HEB should have a special grain size which issmaller than or equal to 15 μm and which ideally ranges between 2.5 and10 μm.

By way of the HEB, the radiation situation in the coke oven room issubstantially improved and the fast coking process from top to bottom isfurther speeded up.

The coke oven can be further improved by coating the walls of flue gaschannels extending horizontally underneath the coking chamber partly orentirely with HEB in any one of the material composition as describedhereinabove, thus improving the indirect heat transport through thefloor of the coke oven chamber.

Another further improved variant is provided in that one or more heatingelements, so-called tertiary heating elements, are arranged in the ovenfree space which in the intended operation of the coke oven is notdestined for being filled with solid matter, said heating elements alsobeing entirely or partly coated with the HEB described hereinabove.Alternatively these tertiary heating elements can also consist of or beformed entirely or partly of the substances that form the HEB.

The tertiary heating elements may have any form and are ideally shapedas hanging ribs or hanging walls. The tertiary heating elements can befurther improved to have openings or a partly open structure.

In principle the tertiary heating elements can be fastened in any kindin the oven chamber. Ideally the tertiary heating elements aredetachably hung into suitable holders, with these holders being mountedin the wall and/or top of the coking chamber. On the one hand it has theadvantage that the tertiary heating elements can be taken out moreeasily when work is to be done on a coke oven chamber, and on the otherhand it is avoided in this manner that expansion processes aretransferred into the oven brickwork.

Another improved variant of the coke oven lies in adapting the gasrouting to the positioning of the tertiary heating elements. Thus, whenthe coking chamber is section-wise divided by the tertiary heatingelements, at least one air feeder mains is led into each of thesesections and one or two downcomers are led out from each of thesesections.

Also covered by the present invention is a method for production of cokeby implementing the coke oven described hereinabove, utilising one ofthe embodiments. In general, a multitude of the described coke ovens arethen operated more or less in parallel.

According to a particularly suitable variant of the method it isprovided that the temperature in the coking chamber during the cokingprocess ideally amounts to 1,000 to 1,400° C. on average. Thistemperature may also be exceeded for a short period of time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The FIGURE shows a sectional view of an embodiment of a coke ovenaccording to the present invention.

The FIGURE shows an embodiment of the inventive coke oven in a sectionalview. The coke oven 1 consists of an oven top 2, oven walls 3 and anoven floor 4, which enclose the oven room 5. The air feeder mains 6represented in dashed lines lead into the oven room 5. The coal charge 7rests on the oven floor 4 and flue gas channels 8 extend underneath theoven floor 4. Also shown in the cross-section are the air feeder mains10 provided in the oven foundation 9 which allow for conducting air intothe flue gas channels 8.

Through vertical downcomers 11, which extend in the oven walls 3 fromthe oven free space of the oven room 5 to the horizontal flue gaschannels 8 underneath the oven floor 4, the gases developing during coalcarbonisation can be discharged.

The interior surfaces of the oven room 5 are provided with an HEB thatconsists of Cr₂O₃, Fe₂O₃ and SiC in equal portions. This HEB of theinterior walls, thereby becoming secondary heating surfaces, has notbeen shown here any further. Furthermore, heating elements 12, tertiaryheating surfaces, are mounted in oven room 5 vertically and parallel toeach other which, by and large, fill the free cross-section above thecoal charge 7 and which are also coated with this HEB. The heatingelements 12 are mounted to the holder elements 13 which in the caseshown here have a shape of wall and roof anchors. In the example shownhere, a small, circumferential gap 14 is left between the interior wallsurfaces of the oven room 5, coal charge 7 and the outer edge of heatingelement 12 in order to allow for a horizontal convection in the ovenroom 5 and to prevent damage to material due to differences in theexpansion behaviour of the structural parts.

By coating all surfaces not contacting the coal charge and by theadditional radiation surfaces which are also coated and which areintroduced through the tertiary heating surfaces into the oven room, ithas been managed to markedly improve the radiation situation in the ovenroom which subsequently has led to a shortened carbonisation time ofcoke.

List of reference numbers

1 Coke oven

2 Oven top

3 Oven wall

4 Oven floor

5 Oven room

6 Air feeder mains

7 Coal charge

8 Flue gas channel

9 Oven foundation

10 Air feeder mains

11 Downcomer

12 Heating element

13 Holder element

14 Gap

1. Utilization of one or more coke ovens of horizontal construction ofthe type non-recovery or heat-recovery, consisting of at least onecoking chamber, laterally arranged vertical downcomers as well as bottomflues arranged horizontally and underneath the coking chamber forindirect reheating of said coking chamber, wherein at least a part ofthe interior walls of the coking chamber is configured as secondaryheating surfaces by coating them with a high-emission coating, with theemission degree of this high-emission coating being equal to or higherthan 0.9.
 2. Utilization according to claim 1, wherein coalcarbonization is carried out at a mean oven room temperature of 1,000 to1,400° C.
 3. A method of using one or more coke ovens of horizontalconstruction of the type non-recovery or heat-recovery, each coke ovenconsisting of at least one coking chamber, laterally arranged verticaldowncomers as well as bottom flues arranged horizontally and underneaththe coking chamber for indirect reheating of said coking chamber,wherein at least a part of the interior walls of the coking chamber isconfigured as secondary heating surfaces by coating them with ahigh-emission coating, with the emission degree of this high-emissioncoating being equal to or higher than 0.9, comprising providing a cokecharge to the oven; and carbonizing the charge.
 4. Method according toclaim 3, wherein the coal carbonization is carried out at a mean ovenroom temperature of 1,000 to 1,400° C.
 5. A method of making coalcomprising utilizing one or more coke ovens of horizontal constructionof the type non-recovery or heat-recovery, consisting of at least onecoking chamber, laterally arranged vertical downcomers as well as bottomflues arranged horizontally and underneath the coking chamber forindirect reheating of said coking chamber, wherein at least a part ofthe interior walls of the coking chamber is configured as secondaryheating surfaces by coating them with a high-emission coating , with theemission degree of this high-emission coating being equal to or higherthan 0.9.
 6. Method according to claim 5, wherein the coal carbonizationis carried out at a mean oven room temperature of 1,000 to 1,400° C.